Global Feminist Participatory Action Research

Women’s Studies creates; it produces students, teachers, theories, art, alliances and a host of other phenomena. To be sure, research is to be found in this list of creations. Feminist research covers a broad spectrum – different places of origin, subjects of study, and intellectual and political intentions. Of course, these are only a few issues on which research converges and, of course, diverges. 

In creating this website, we have decided to bridge both our passions for sociology with that of feminist inquiry. As a result, we selected participatory action research, or PAR, as the focus of this website. As students interested in feminist methodologies, we find that PAR provides both the academic and general community at large with a radically new way of understanding research: who can perform it, who can create legitimate knowledge, and how we come to understand what “topics” are “important” to understand and gather experiences about. A key ingredient to feminist research is understanding those behind it. Our collective experiences as women’s studies students with disciplinary grounding in sociology (specifically, gender, sex/ualities, theory) has shaped both our understanding of feminism and feminist methodology. As a result, what we present here is shaped through the lens of our academic histories. Stretching the boundaries of “what counts” as research is at the heart of this webpage.

Please join us in this creative process.